I really like the color of this nail polish, but compared to my other Essie polishes, it's quite difficult to apply. The first coat was sheer and very streaky, but I always apply two coats of polish anyway, however I found that when I applied a second coat, the polish would drag and kind of just slide around on my nail. I would say that you need about three coats for this to look decent. Overall, I'd recommend Mint Candy Apple because it's a lovely color, but it does take some time and effort to apply it nicely.

I hate to be a downer, but I'm not really all that impressed with this nail polish. First and foremost is the color. It's called "Mint Candy Apple" but on me, there's absolutely nothing mint about it. It's a basic pastel blue color on my nails. Some pictures online show it to be more of the minty pastel green shade you would expect, but most look like more of a robin's egg blue. (On me, it's not even as bright or pigmented as robin's egg blue.) In reading the reviews, ALL of the older ones refer to it as a minty pastel green color. One even said it's like the color of mint chocolate chip ice cream, which has absolutely no blue in it at all! But when you look at the newer reviews, the vast majority of people say it's just a pastel blue. Did the formula change over the years? There's not even the slightest hint of green in mine. It's a basic, average, fairly dull pastel blue. On the plus side, it applies very easily and has a great formula. Some Essies can be pretty tricky to work with but this one was super easy. I also own Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint in Sugar Apple and that's a dupe-but-better for MCA. It's identical except for the fact that it's got that ever-so-slight hint of green that gives it a truly minty look and is much more opaque. I would not repurchase this shade, as I don't feel it's unique or particularly flattering. ETA: Shortly after I posted this review I purchased butter London's "Fiver" Nail Lacquer, and it's much much closer to what I thought MCA would be. I highly recommend that one!

This is a pale, slightly milky mint green creme, and it leans decidedly blue. In some warm lighting, and on me, it looks like a pale baby blue or a pale blue-leaning turquoise. It's not a colour I would have chosen for myself, because I'm fair and cool-toned (pink and blue undertones) and pastels are usually pretty unpleasant on me. I was surprised by this one, though, as it looks quite fresh and nice. (I got it as a surprise gift from a fellow polish-loving friend.)

The formula is pretty hard to work with, unfortunately. I'm used to pastels being streaky, especially on the first coat, but this is not only streaky, it's far too easy to drag, leaving "bald spots" if you're not super careful (and a bit lucky, I suspect). I rarely have to use more than two coats, but for this polish, I had to use three on a couple of fingers, only to cover up the places where the polish got dragged. It seems to dry slowly, so extra patience is required between coats to avoid bubbling.

Overall, I like this polish, and I hope to come to grips with the formula eventually. I probably won't be wearing it a lot (it's not really my usual style, but good for an occasional change of pace), but it is nice and I'm glad to have it in my collection. It's good to have a pastel I can actually wear.

The polish is opaque with two coats (assuming you can get two coats without any bald spots that require a third coat to fix),

"Mint Candy Apple" is described by Essie as a "Light Green" and "a creme de menthe mint."As much as this colour is beautiful, it throws pure baby blue on me. I am super pale, NC5 for reference, and I honestly see next to no green, mint, or anything close to, in this nail polish. Personally, I don't mind because I love the colour so much, but I took off a lippie rating due to the fact that I personally find the name of the polish misleading.

In saying that, it does appear to be a lot more mint in colour in some of the various photo swatches I have found online. Very very opaque application, one coat is enough for the perfect opaqueness, not streaky at all and as always, long lasting formula.

Hm. I am a nail polish fiend and this color is a classic so I had to buy it. I'm not sure how I feel about it though. My hands are dark and quite brown. This color does pop, it looks almost white and I do like it. But I don't see any mint in it at all on my hands. It's just a baby blue. The formula was also pretty terrible, but I must have to bad bottle or something cuz no one else is having this trouble. And as with most essie polishes, you need quite a few coats for opacity.

I was a bit skeptical of the great reviews, especially after applying the first coat! The first coat was so splotchy on me, I thought "Essie's trademark is known for their pastels and even their most popular colors have bad formulas". But then I applied the second coat and honestly, it looked perfect. I also hadn't painted my nails in a really long time because I had reverted to biting my nails really bad so I figured they'd be messier than usual due to lack of practice but they looked so good I barely had to do any cleanup (I uploaded a photo pre-cleanup which honestly I think looks pretty amazing considering it's a pic of my right, dominant hand and I hadn't painted my nails in months). So the brush really works for me and the formula is actually great. I probably got about 3 days out of it without noticing a single chip or fading which is average for me although it may have lasted longer since I fiddle with my nails a lot and I force myself to paint them every 3 days anyway to prevent myself from biting them. The color kind of doesn't need recommending since most people love it and there are plenty of pictures. My husband doesn't love it, he says it looks too "neony" but I like it. Overall really great, pleasantly surprised, expensive-ish but I think it's worth it considering how bad most of the pastel formulas are that I've tried from a bunch of different brands. I'd rather pay $8 for a great formula than $4 for a horrible one.

This is the wild card in my nail polish drawer, and I'm still not sure what to do with it. It doesn't know if it wants to be blue or green, but one thing is for sure--it stands out...except I haven't figured out if this is in a good or bad way. I saw a magazine ad for this when it first came out and eagerly stalked all the local stores waiting for it to come in because I was about to tear myself to try it. I'd been looking for a pale green polish, you see; a very pale green that was almost white, and I had a feeling this might finally be it. Well...not really, but it is a very unique color. Can't say I've ever seen anything else like it. On my forever-untanned self it probably doesn't look quite as good as it might on, say, someone with a bit more color but hey, I'm not complaining about that. My biggest issue with this is the application. All other Essie polishes I've tried have a thinner formula that goes on very nicely, but for some reason this one just wants to be lumpy. I've tried doing the thinnest coats I can possible manage, but that still doesn't really do much to ameliorate the situation and I still look like I've got house paint on my fingertips, not nail polish. Maybe I got a bad bottle, or maybe it's operator error--either way, Mint Candy Apple isn't exactly my favorite. However, that doesn't stop me from getting it out from time to time and gathering up the resolve to try it again...and again...and again...

I really want to love this polish but I just can't. First off, I don't like writing completely negative reviews so I'll start out with the positive stuff. A good thing is that mint candy apple is such a fresh, summery color that looks amazing with a tan! I love how this is bright like a white polish would be, but it's way more fun than that. The color may be great and all, but the formula is horrendous. This polish was so difficult to apply, and it got really streaky and didn't blend together. I had to re-do about three nails for this to look presentable. In the end a nice shiny top coat evened everything out, but what a struggle! This stuff cost me about eight dollars and it so wasn't worth it. If you want a nice mint nail polish, get it from OPI, they're the best. This formula is just too hard to work with.